The Question
by Savage Shade
Summary: One shot. Dean Winchester soon realised it didn’t matter. If it didn't matter anymore, then why did anyone need to know? Why did baby Sammy need to know, even when he was older? But Sammy didn't care what his brother decided.


**Title: **The Question.  
**Summary:** Dean Winchester soon realised it didn't matter. If it didn't matter anymore, then why did anyone need to know? Why did baby Sammy need to know, even when he was older? But Sammy didn't care what his brother decided.  
**Warnings: **None really, for violence or language. There is Australian spelling though.  
**Disclaimer:** I own no rights to Supernatural, the TV show, or Sam and Dean individually; I doubt I'd be posting fanfic if I did.  
**Note:** A friend told me I should post this, and show this to the masses, so here it is. Read, and enjoy, feedback is always welcome.

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Dean Winchester soon realised it didn't matter, that now that it was After nobody cared, least of all Daddy. That if they did, he'd wake up to presents and cards and cake, like he used to. Before. He soon realised that if it had still been Before, it would have mattered, but it wasn't Before so, therefore, it didn't matter anymore. And if it didn't matter anymore, then why did anyone need to know? Why did baby Sammy need to know, even when he was older?

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The first time Sammy asked was when he was eight, and he had to for an assignment at school.

_Chronicle the birthdays of yourself, your family and your friends and record them on the calendar provided_. Dean thought it was a stupid assignment and told his brother this when he was asked. Sammy, however, thought it was great and had even Pastor Jim and Bobby; he'd even managed to get their Dad to tell him their Mother's birthday, along with his own. But Dean, when asked, avoided the question or diverted Sammy's attention and was saved from answering when their Dad had come home hurt from his latest Hunt. The small family had packed up and left that night, a full week before Sammy's assignment was due.

Dean drove the back roads to Jim's place and by the time they'd gotten their injured Father help, Sammy had forgotten the question

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The second time Sammy asked was eight months later and they were on a Hunt.

Dad had sent them to burn the bones of a little girl; the only body they knew the location of; buried under a lemon tree behind the house, while he dealt with the other spirits in the decrepit house. Dean dug while Sammy kept watch and he'd just uncovered the bones when Sammy asked, obviously bored with the lack of activity. Dean told him to be quiet and keep a lookout as he poured salt and lighter fluid over the old crumbling bones in the shallow grave. Sammy turned toward Dean, the inevitable 'but why?' on his lips, as Dean struck the matchbook and missed the appearance of the ethereal girl behind him, water dripping steadily from her hair and clothes. She bypassed Sammy and attacked Dean as he dropped the matchbook, the bones caught easily, but not before she'd thrown Dean back, over the low stone fence and through the decaying cover on the old well. He hit his head on the way down and the last thing he heard before he hit the water was the echo of Sammy shouting his name.

When Dean woke up, cold, wet and disoriented in the backseat of the car, Sammy had forgotten the question.

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The third time Sammy asked it was eleven months later and he kept asking almost for almost four months before he forgot the question.

They had moved to a new town and the Hunt that had brought them there took longer than they'd expected; a lot longer; long enough for Sammy to make friends and be invited to sleepovers and birthdays parties and get a taste of the normal life he so desperately wanted. It took them almost five months the work out the _what_, and _where_, and _how_ of the thing they were hunting before they could kill it, and Sammy soon got tired of Dean avoiding the question or brushing it off. But when the hunt went south and Dean was taken, the sheriff was injured helping to get him back; but didn't really know, or want to know what the thing that tried to eat him was, he threatened to arrest John if they stayed in his town any longer.

By the time the three of them packed up and got the Hell outta Dodge, Sammy had forgotten the question.

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The fourth time Sammy asked, it had been over three years since he'd last remembered the question, and kept insisting his name wasn't Sammy anymore it was _Sam_.

But Dean was still Dean, albeit older, and dodged and evaded the question with equal style and ease when Sammy found an old incomplete assignment in the back of the car and realised he still didn't know the answer. He didn't forget the question this time, when John shouted at him for talking during a Hunt, or they moved towns, or even the time Dean was caught hustling pool and was beaten up in a dingy back alley. He kept asking, trying to catch Dean off guard; until Dean was caught in a blizzard while on a Hunt.

Dean had quickly dubbed the thing they were hunting BLC or Bigfoot's Lame Cousin and, when they found out it had been terrorising a ski resort for the past decade, quickly decided that it should stop imitating a Scooby-Doo episode so they could stop freezing their asses off and go somewhere warmer. They planned a trap, John flushing the creature out, and toward the boys, who'd be waiting to take it out. It was all going well until John fell behind and BLC tried to attack Sammy, but Dean got in the way and the hunter and hunted went through the thin ice on the river.

He didn't know how far down river he was when he managed to pull himself out but he knew he wouldn't be to make it back to their cabin before the storm set in. Shivering violently he began looking for shelter; finally, when the snowfall was starting to get heavier, Dean found a place where snow had piled up in lee of a fallen tree, he dug into the packed snow, managing to make a small snow cave. He crawled inside and curled into a ball, trying to stay warm and awake until morning.

Dean didn't remember falling asleep, but by the time he woke up in the cabin, blankets piled on top of him, to find his brother watching him, cocoa in hand, Sammy had forgotten the question.

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Sammy never asked again, maybe he just never remembered the question again, maybe not. Either way Dean remembered.

Dean stood in the bus station with his younger brother, waiting with him for the bus that would take Sammy out of his life.

"You're really serious about this then?" He asked, looking out at the rain.

"Yeah, I really am." Sammy replied, and Dean heard something in his voice, fear maybe, or determination.

Dean just nodded; still watching the rain outside, his eyes followed the progress of a bus coming toward the bus station. Sammy cleared his throat, about to say something, but Dean beat him to it.

"He is proud you know, of you getting a full ride to Stanford." Dean told Sammy but still couldn't quite bring himself to look at his brother.

He could feel his brother looking at him, could feel the denial and disbelief in the gaze without seeing his Sammy's eyes.

"Well he has a funny way of showing it." Sammy replied bitterly, and hefted his bag, readying to leave.

Dean sighed, "Good luck," He said, clapping his brother on the shoulder, finally looking at him, "And drop me a line sometime, tell me how your geeky life is going."

Sammy nodded, "Thanks."

Dean hesitated a moment, "January 24th." He said, catching Sammy off guard and looking confused, "You always wanted to know right?" He added as he turned away.

Dean started walking away before Sammy could say anything else. Never turning, or looking back he raised a hand in farewell as he walked out into the rain, wondering if Sammy would forget the question.

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So, thoughts anyone? 


End file.
